Murder by Antler. 'True Detective' and 'Hannibal'

Watching the premiere of True Detective, I immediately thought it was sort of a rip-off of Hannibal's killer last season with the use of antlers. I was actually surprised more of the internets didn't mention anything…

Then I saw this from Bryan Fuller (Hannibal):

"Anybody who saw [the Stephen King TV miniseries] Salem’s Lot in 1979 where James Mason impaled that guy on the antlers, it’s probably all coming from that traumatic experience in our childhoods. So I imagine they probably saw the same thing that inspired the imagery in this show.” 

  Full quote and story at EW.

So, there you have it.

'Intelligence' on CBS: Thoughts on the premiere and how it compares to 'Almost Human'

Caught the premiere of Intelligence last night on CBS and am sad to say I was mildly disappointed.

Not to say I had very high expectations going into it. The whole premise of humans being privy to mass amounts of information/robot isn't exactly new… feels very Persons of Interest. Even in the first episode, it feels familiar. But maybe that's what they're going for…. it is CBS, after all.

Intelligence will undoubtedly be compared to Almost Human since in the batch of new shows, they are nearly identical in premise. Unlikely partners who have to work together, one having superhuman smarts. If that's the case, I worry about Intelligence. The pilot was no where near as good as AH, the chemistry between the partners wasn't as convincing and the move into a crime-of-the-week format seemed to happen immediately. AH on the other hand, used the first episode to set up the mythology of the show (which, sadly, they haven't revisited enough for my tastes). On Intelligence, the overarching mythology surrounding Sawyer Gabriel's wife (Ilana!!) seemed forced. Like they were mentioning it because they had to.

The one noticeable difference between AH and Intelligence is the tone, the latter being much darker. While I fault AH for relying too heavily on the procedural side and not revisiting the mythology from the first hour, at least it is fun to watch. As I watch Intelligence, I longed for shows like AH or SHIELD or Hawaii Five-O that mix action and fun. Sure, it's dark tone sets it apart… unfortunately I think Josh Holloway would really shine in a more relaxed atmosphere. The guy can throw a mean zinger - and a punch.

I also don't really understand what Gabriel's abilities are or how he got them or what their limits are. Can he read files on people? But how did he see that map? Can he read people's minds? It seems his 'intelligence' has no limits - which is discouraging. It also seems he has some sort of superhuman strength - also discouraging. Did I miss something in explaining his abilities? TV.com puts it best when they say:

"If he needs to open an electronic lock while in the custody of some nasty Pakistani militants, as was the case in the show's cold open, voila! [mind connects to Pakistani hideout Wi-fi, hacks Pakistani security controls] And then *click*, it's open! However, if he needs to open up some satellite imaging (i.e. Google Maps) to detect that he's running toward a dead-end cliff, as he also should have done later in the cold open, then he'll forget that he's got Google Glass in his brain."

Bright spots on the series will be Josh Holloway and Marg Helgenberger. And the one and only Fulton Reed if he (SPOILER ALERT!) sticks around as a bad guy. And of course, the twist and introduction of a possible adversary in the last minutes is promising.

Why I gave up on 'Hostages'

Tonight, the last two episodes were airing. I "watched" one ("watched" as in, sat on my phone the whole time and had no idea what was going on) and then went ahead and deleted the other.

I'll have you know. I rarely do that. Unlike most things in my personal life, TV shows I generally see all the way through. Seriously, I'm still watching Revolution.

I watch(ed) a lot of bad shows that were supposed to be good. Once Upon A Time (the original and … in Wonderland), 666 Park Ave, Terra Nova, Awake, The Playboy Club, even the DOA Mocking Bird Lane. It wasn't a shock to me that any of these shows were cancelled. (Or, in the case of those still on the air… cancel them already! They're terrible!) There was something about them - the bad acting, improbable plot, bad storytelling, bad CGI, characters I didn't care about. Something that I knew from the beginning wouldn't last.

Hostages wasn't like that for me. The pilot was so good. The roster of actors was impressive. There's plenty of political drama hitting high notes these days - Homeland, Scandal, House of Cards. The show had all the right elements.

Yet, it fell apart.

Somewhere along the way, I lost interest. I think it was about the time that the black guy / Presbo from The Wire / President's younger sister or in law or whoever showed up. The plot really thickened. Too many people. Too improbable. And that roster of incredible actors? Were they phoning it in? Because it was so over the top.

I just couldn't handle it anymore. There's too much good TV on these days.

House of Cards S1 Binge Watch

I finally binge watched House of Cards S1 over the holidays and - whoa. You people weren't kidding. This show is good.

I feel sorry for everyone who compares Spader on The Blacklist to Kevin Spacey in Cards. Sure, Spader is great… but he is nothing compared to Spacey. He's creepy, maniacal, but he's not your typical antihero.

Tony Soprano ushered in Dexter Morgan, Walter White and Don Draper. Bad men that we wanted to win. We love them, despite everything. But Spacey's Frank Underwood… I'm not so sure. I'm not sure I want him to win. To succeed in his plots. In fact, I think I want him to be taken down… but I'm not sure of an adversary who'll be able to do it.

Certainly not Kate Mara, who plays upcoming journalist Zoe Barnes. I'm not convinced she can set aside her personal attraction/feelings for Underwood to go through with his take down.

And can we talk a minute about Robin Wright, Frank's wife? How perfect is she? Perhaps she's the antihero in all of this. I cherish her moments of strength, conviction, happiness with the former lover/photographer. And her clothes. All her clothes. Oh, and her haircut is fierce.

Anywho. Season 2 promos are here, and is on Netflix Feb 14th. Happy Valentine's Day y'all.

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I need to move, apparently.  

Not interested in "Welcome to the Family"

Caught the premiere of Welcome to the Family on Hulu and... I'm just not interested. I like Carlos from Desperate Housewives... I love Mike O'Malley... but I just don't care about this comedy. It just feels so generic, so obvious. Even the (SPOILER ALERT) cliffhanger at the end of O'Malley's wife possibly being pregnant doesn't feel like a surprise.

Not recording.

"Mindy Project" BFFs were set to star on "Super Fun Night"

In writing my review for the first episode of Super Fun Night, I saw a promo picture featuring Kelen Coleman (Newsroom). I thought at first maybe she was the original role of villain Kendall - but not so.

Apparently she was set to play a coworker of Kimmie's, but more of a role model and mentor for the character. Not a villain like the 'new' Kendall does.

What's really weird is that Super Fun Night, which was originally being developed for CBS, had cast Anna Camp in the role.

Everyone's probably like "Anna Camp! Her and Rebel Wilson are probably like BFFs from Pitch Perfect!" And all I can think is that Anna and Kelen both played friends of Mindy on The Mindy Project last season.

Ah, casting.

"Lucky 7" first to get axed

Welp, it has happened. Lucky 7 is the first fall show to get cancelled, and just after two episodes.

I've got to say, I'm surprised. For starters, I thought it would be Super Fun Night. I just didn't think it would be a drama, especially one with this kind of limited, resolvable storyline. Heck, even 666 Park Avenue and Zero Hour got additional episodes and those shows were bad. I thought they'd get six or so episodes, to finish out this story.

Regardless - I thought the show was okay. I went back and forth on cancelling my series recording or not, and ultimately had decided I wanted to know more about these people (particularly the younger girl who seemed nervous about proving her identity...). Alas, I think I'll just delete the remaining episode.

Can we just give a moment of silence for poor Matt Long, though? Guy can't catch a break on TV.

Super Fun Night gets a spot on my DVR

Of course I was excited about Super Fun Night (Rebel Wilson, hello!) but I was also worried.... The title itself implies one night only, how can they keep that going? What's with the terrible fake American accent? And, most of all, isn't the majority of Wilson's fanbase (teens, twentysomethings) the exact age group not watching primetime network TV?

In fact, I voted Super Fun Night as most likely to get cancelled first (UPDATE: That title goes to Lucky 7).

But I watched the first episode this week - er, technically the second episode. ABC aired the second episode instead of the pilot, which I don't really mind because it looks to me that we already saw all the funny first ep moments in the trailer. Anyway, second first episode was actually pretty funny, in my opinion.

I like Kimmie and her friends. Though one-dimensional right now, I think they'll really expand and get more personality in later episodes - think Schmidt and Winston in New Girl.

I like Kimmie's male cowowrker/crush. I like that he's a nice, cute guy that seems to genuinely like Kimmie. He doesn't write her off because of her weight or awkwardness... in fact, the argument could be made that he doesn't see a romantic connection because they are such good friends. I like that. They could so easily have gone the other way.

And I like the villain, Kendall. She is so desperate for the attention, for the spotlight. And I loved watching her try to steal it from Kimmie. If anything, Kendall ends up being more of the awkward ham than Kimmie does.

I think it's got legs. I think it's got a good, unknown cast to work with. Despite the title, it proves it is about / can be about more than one super fun night. That doesn't change the fact that people my age aren't watching live TV... I'm not sure who else would like this show.

What's with all the spin-offs?

This year, we're losing Breaking Bad, Dexter and HIMYM.

Yet, we're talking spin-offs already for all three shows. And a spin-off for Walking Dead, too. Really?

The BB spin-off Better Call Saul is already in the works and the others are just rumors, but I hope they don't happen. I understand it is hard to let go of these characters, stories and places... I understand that some spin-offs are awesome (Frasier?) but I feel like it is just cheapening good - no, GREAT - television. These shows will go down in history as some of the best (or in Dexter's case, the first few seasons will...) and I don't want their legacies muddled because of some silly spin-offs.

Plus, for every Frasier, there's a Joey.